Cultivation of Sugar and Cotton in the East Indies [pp. 511-543]

COTTON CULTURE IN THE EAST INDIES.
that kind so generally and so advantageously known as the Georgia
Sea island cotton.
In mentioning this veruperior variety as suitable to maritime
districts, I by no means inti&lt to express an opinion that it must be
confined to such localities; for although it delights and requires to
have common salt within reach of its roots, yet this might be supplied by adding that saline manure to soils situated far from the sea.
This is no mere theoretical notion, for I have seen strictly maritime
plants grown a hundred miles inland by supplying them judiciously
with salt, and among the number I would particularize one of the
most intractable, the rock samphire (Crithmum maritimum).
The kinds which it has been endeavored to introduce here are:Sea island cotton, Barbadoes cotton, Brazil cotton, Bourbon cotton
(both black and green seeded) and China cotton. To this list may
be added a variety called " th vine cotton," a very superior kind,
from Jamaica, the extraordinary fault of which was its having a staple too long. The seeds were distributed to Captain Jenkins at
Gowhatty, and to a gentleman going to Mirzapore, but with what
result does not appear.
Mr. Piddington has ingeniously suggested that new varieties could
be raised by cross impregnation, as was successfully practised with
the pea by the late Mr. Knight. This might, doubtless, be done in
some instances, and is worthy of attention, because, although the
kinds at present known are sufficiently excellent if correctly cultivated, yet they are not so perfect as to prohibit the hope of improvement.
Much, observes Dr. Royle, may be effected by introducing into
India the different species and varieties which are already successfully cultivated in other countries; and here let us not restrict ourselves to too small a number of varieties, because they happen to be
those which at present produce the best kinds of cotton. Not contented in America with possessing already the best kinds, they have
tried those of other countries to ascertain if there are any among
them suited to the peculiarities of their country and climate.
Districts best suited for Cotton.-As some one of the several species of cotton plants may be found in every district of Hindostan,
from Cape Comorin to the Himalayan mountains, it is not an untenable position to assume that no portion of the globe, of similar extent,
is capable of yielding so large a quantity of this peculiar produce.
Indeed, from the earliest ages, cotton has been mentioned as the special production of India.
Now if is a fact in the history of vegetables, to which I remember
no exceptions, that where the wild stock flourishes naturally, there
the improved varieties succeed best. Examples occur in the English
apples and the French pears; for in no country does the crab abound
more than in England, nor the wild pear than in France. The
inference I would draw from this observation is, that Hindostan
ought eminently to excel in the production of cotton, and the comparatively limited experience we have yet had of the results of
applying superior knowledge and superior capital to this object,
encourages rather than represses the opinion.
That no part of India has a climate unsuited to the production of
VOL. Iv. —34